that make mention of his son, the which was begotten unto him of the seed of David, as pertaining to the flesh:

But, as to the spirit of holiness within him, was miraculously designated Son of God by his resurrection from the dead.

Through him we received grace and a commission as an apostle to bring about faithful obedience among all the gentiles for the sake of his name.

and you also are among those who are called of Jesus Christ to belong to Him;

always entreating him that now at length, if such be his will, the way may be made clear for me to come to you.

For in the good news God's Way of man's right standing with Him is uncovered, the Way of faith that leads to greater faith, just as the Scripture says, "The upright man must live by faith."

because what may be known about Him is plain to their inmost consciousness; for He Himself has made it plain to them.

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

because, although they once knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give Him thanks, but became silly in their senseless speculations, and so their insensible hearts have been shrouded in darkness.

Because by them the true word of God was changed into that which is false, and they gave worship and honour to the thing which is made, and not to him who made it, to whom be blessing for ever. So be it.

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or consider Him worth knowing [as their Creator], God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do things which are improper and repulsive,

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge another; for in whatever point you pass judgment on him you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things.

For God shows no partiality [no arbitrary favoritism; with Him one person is not more important than another].

But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely on the Law [for your salvation] and boast in [your special relationship to] God,

Therefore if the uncircumcised keep the righteous precepts of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be accounted to him for circumcision?

For if through my falsehood God's truthfulness glorifies him even more, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?

wherefore by works of law shall no flesh be declared righteous before Him, for through law is a knowledge of sin.

The Divine Righteousness which is bestowed, through faith in Jesus Christ, upon all, without distinction, who believe in him.

But people are made right with Him as a free gift by His unearned favor, through being bought back [from Satan] by Christ Jesus.

For God once publicly offered Him in His death as a sacrifice of reconciliation through faith, to demonstrate His own justice (for in His forbearance God had passed over men's former sins);

To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

since there is [only] one God, who makes the circumcised ones [i.e., the Jews] right with Him by faith [in Christ] and the uncircumcised ones [i.e., the Gentiles] through faith [in Christ].

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather humanly speaking, has found? [Has he obtained a favored standing?]

For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham put his faith in God, and it was credited to him as right standing with God."

Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

but the man who does no work, but simply puts his faith in Him who brings the ungodly into right standing with Himself, has his faith credited to him as right standing.

And in this same way David speaks of the blessing on the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

Happy the man whose sin the Lord does not charge against him!"

Now does this happiness come to the Jews alone, or to the heathen peoples too? For we say, "Abraham's faith was credited to him as right standing."

Under what circumstances was it credited to him as right standing? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? Not after but before he was circumcised.

Afterward he received the mark of circumcision as God's seal of his right standing with Him on condition of faith which he had before he was circumcised, that he might be the forefather of all who have faith while still uncircumcised, that they might have their faith credited to them as right standing with God;

For the promise made to Abraham and his descendants that the world should belong to him did not come to him or his descendants through the Law, but through the uprightness that resulted from his faith.

(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

Abraham, building on hope in spite of hopeless circumstances, had faith, and so he actually became the father of many nations, just as it had been told him, "So numberless shall your descendants be."

And not being feeble in faith though his body seemed to him little better than dead (he being about a hundred years old) and Sarah was no longer able to have children:

He did not incredulously question God's promise, but his faith gave him power and he praised God

On the contrary, his faith gave him strength; and he praised God, in the firm conviction that what God has promised he is also able to carry out.

Therefore, his faith was credited to him as right standing with God.

It was not for his sake alone that it was written, "It was credited to him";

But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

So, since we are made right with God by [our] faith, we have peace with Him through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace by which we have been established, and we boast because of our hope in God's glory.

So if we have already been brought into right standing with God by Christ's death, it is much more certain that by Him we shall be saved from God's wrath.

For if while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, it is much more certain that since we have been reconciled we shall finally be saved through His new life.

Therefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death; even so death passed into all men through him, in whom all have sinned.

And yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the way Adam had, against a positive command. For Adam was a figure of Him who was to come.

the type of him that was to come: but yet the damage of the fall does not exactly correspond to the advantages of the divine favour: for tho' through the fall of one, mankind became mortal, yet this is greatly over-ballanced by the favour and bounty of God, in the benevolence of one man, Jesus Christ, to all mankind.

For if [physical] death ruled [over mankind] because of the sin of the one man [i.e., Adam], how much more will those who receive the abundance of God's unearned favor, and the gift of being right with Him, rule in [never ending] life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

For just as through one man’s disobedience [his failure to hear, his carelessness] the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of the one Man the many will be made righteous and acceptable to God and brought into right standing with Him.

Remember ye not, that all we which are baptised in the name of Christ Jesus, are baptised to die with him?

So through baptism we have been buried with Him in death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father's glorious power, so we too should live an entirely new life.

For if we have grown into fellowship with Him by sharing a death like His, surely we shall share a resurrection life like His,

for we know that our former self was crucified with Him, to make our body that is liable to sin inactive, so that we might not a moment longer continue to be slaves to sin.

So if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

for we know that Christ, who once was raised from the dead, will never die again; death has no more power over Him.

For the death that He died, He died to sin [ending its power and paying the sinner’s debt] once and for all; and the life that He lives, He lives to [glorify] God [in unbroken fellowship with Him].

Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin [and your relationship to it broken], but alive to God [in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.

and you must not offer the parts of your bodies to sin as the instruments of wrong, but offer yourselves to God as men brought back from death to life, and offer the parts of your bodies to him as instruments of uprightness.

Do you not know that when you habitually offer yourselves to anyone for obedience to him, you are slaves to that one whom you are in the habit of obeying, whether it is the slavery to sin whose end is death or to obedience whose end is right-doing?

For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he liveth; but if the husband die, she is released from the law which bound her to him.

So, my brothers, you too in the body of Christ have ended your relation to the law, so that you may be married to another husband, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.

God will! Thanks be to him through Jesus Christ our Lord! [Move second part of this vers to follow vs 23] (Thus, left to myself, I serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.)

and those who are in the flesh [living a life that caters to sinful appetites and impulses] cannot please God.

But you are not living on the plane of the lower nature, but on the spiritual plane, if the Spirit of God has His home within you. Unless a man has the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead has His home within you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give your mortal bodies life through His Spirit that has His home within you.

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

For nature did not of its own accord give up to failure; it was for the sake of Him who let it thus be given up, in the hope

We know that in everything God works with those who love him, whom he has called in accordance with his purpose, to bring about what is good.

Because those of whom he had knowledge before they came into existence, were marked out by him to be made like his Son, so that he might be the first among a band of brothers:

And those who were marked out by him were named; and those who were named were given righteousness; and to those to whom he gave righteousness, in the same way he gave glory.

Since He did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not with Him graciously give us everything else?

And yet in all these things we keep on gloriously conquering through Him who loved us.

nor are they all children of Abraham because they are descended from him, but he was told, "The line of Isaac will be called your descendants."

And not only this, but Rebecca also being with child by one, by our father Isaac??11 for the children not yet being born, nor having done any thing good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might continue, not of works but of him that calls,??12 it was said to her that the older shall serve the younger;

(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)

For he says to Moses, I will be merciful to him to whom I may be merciful, and I will compassionate him whom I may compassionate.

So one's destiny does not depend on his own willing or strenuous actions but on God's having mercy on him.

Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

But what if God, willing to display his wrath, and to make known what is possible with him, hath borne with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for perdition:

Even us, who were marked out by him, not only from the Jews, but from the Gentiles?

And why? Simply because Israel has relied not on faith but on what they could do. They have stumbled over the stone that makes men stumble ??33 as it is written, Here I lay a stone in Sion that will make men stumble, even a rock to trip them up; but he who believes in Him will never be disappointed.

As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

For not knowing about God’s righteousness [which is based on faith], and seeking to establish their own [righteousness based on works], they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

For Christ has put an end to law as a way to right standing for everyone who puts his trust in Him.

But the righteousness based on faith [which produces a right relationship with Him] says the following: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into Heaven?’ that is, to bring Christ down;

or, Who shall descend into the abyss? that is, to bring him up from the dead.

For if with your lips you acknowledge the fact that Jesus is Lord, and in your hearts you believe that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

For the Scripture says, "No one who puts his faith in Him will ever be put to shame."

But there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is over them all, because He is infinitely kind to all who call upon Him.

For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord [in prayer] will be saved.”

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

And how are men to proclaim him unless they are sent as his messengers? As Scripture says--'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'

But how did God reply to him? "I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who have never bent their knees to Baal."

What then? [Just this]: The very thing that the Israelites are looking for [i.e., a right relationship with God], they have not found. But God's selected ones obtained [this right relationship with Him] and the rest [of the Israelites] were made insensitive to God's call,

True, but they [i.e., the Jews] were [really] broken off because they did not believe [in Christ], and you [Gentiles] remain [in God's favor] because you do believe [in Him]. So, do not become arrogant [about it], but be fearful.

So, look at God's kindness and severity. He was severe with those [Jews] who have fallen, but He is kind to you [Gentiles], if you continue to accept His kindness [i.e., by living for Him faithfully]. Otherwise, you too will be cut off [like the Jews were].

And so all Israel will get salvation: as it is said in the holy Writings, There will come out of Zion the One who makes free; by him wrongdoing will be taken away from Jacob:

From the point of view of the good news they are treated as enemies of God on your account; but from the point of view of God's choice, they are dear to him because of their forefathers,

For verily the gifts and calling of God are such, that it cannot repent him of them.

Just as you at one time were disobedient to him, but have now found mercy in the day of their disobedience;